


Dead and Gone

by Hijackedvictor



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22061746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hijackedvictor/pseuds/Hijackedvictor
Summary: A world infested with walkers and Katniss is just looking for her husband.
Kudos: 4





	Dead and Gone

His smile always did stretch across his face, like that real smile, the one that shows his perfectly straight teeth. His face could relax with one simple gesture. His eyes so full of life and would lighten up at the sight of the littlest thing. Like when fresh paint supplies would come in the mail or when that loaf of bread comes out honey brown from the oven. Or when he comes home to me from a long day at work.

I haven’t seen that smile in weeks, all I have is a picture that I hold tightly to my chest. I remember that day too; we were at a friend’s barbeque last summer. It’s a candid picture, obviously, best way to catch that genuine smile. Peeta had just cracked a lame joke but I guess I was feeling generous because I’m laughing in the photo.

It’s been about three weeks since we’ve been separated, when the grocery store, where we laid camp, got overran by walkers forcing us to run in different directions. We had a rendezvous point previously agreed upon and that’s where I went immediately but Peeta was nowhere to be found. I checked there every day in hopes to find him. Gale, my hunting partner, told me he is either dead or a walker at this point. But I can’t think like that, because accepting Peeta’s dead or a walker means accepting he’s gone. To never hear his laugh, eat his cheese buns, or see that smile ever again. Besides, Peeta can take care of himself, he’s pretty strong and good with a gun. I know he’s still out there.

I rise from my dust encrusted bed, accepting that those two hours of sleep are going to be all that I’ll get. Gale and I have been staying at an abandoned home for the past three days but I have a feeling today is our last day. 

Going outside I can see it’s probably six in the morning by the position of the sun. All I can think about is how this is the exact sunrise Peeta loves. A perfect mix of orange and yellow, reflecting its colors on the puffy white clouds, as the sun rises further it shifts into a beautiful light pink. After about half an hour of staring at the sky, the sun is fully up. 

I miss Peeta so much.

“Hey Catnip, what are you doing out here all by yourself?” Although I couldn’t hear him coming, I knew Gale was there. He always senses when I’m awake and when I rise.

I lie and tell him that I’m keeping an out for walkers because, I don’t know why, but I don’t want him knowing I was thinking of Peeta. And it’s not a total lie, it’s never a wrong time to be aware of biters.

We head back inside for a breakfast of canned beans and some bird’s eggs Gale found on the trees lined outside the house. Discussing today’s game plan, we agreed that Gale and I have stayed in one area for too long and need to move further north. We run into trouble when I mention that we need to check the rendezvous point. The problem is, it’s an old rusted car in the opposite direction where we’re going, Tupper Lake.

“Katniss…” Gale starts but I won’t hear, he just doesn’t understand how I can’t lose hope. “No. Katniss. I’m sorry but no. It’s too far away at this point and we’ll only lose time and distance. I know how much Peeta means to you but it’s been three weeks and…”

“Don’t say it. Don’t’ you say it.” I cut Gale off because it’s too early in the morning for this shit.

“Katniss, he’s dead.” And with that I get up from the table that probably had a happy family enjoying fried chicken here just last year. Now they’re all dead.

I head to the backyard where I find a small refuge since we’ve laid camp here. 

An hour goes by and I’ve made two lousy arrows out of wood and shot three staggering walkers before Gale comes back out to tell me we need to move north. We grab our things and head out.

Gale and I have been following this dirt road and according to his compass, we’re moving northeast. It’s a beautiful day out, white fluffy clouds, the sun is out, and there’s a light breeze to cool off the beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead.

We’re moving at a fairly fast pace and are making great time, killing walkers here and there, we even happened to catch tonight’s dinner, two squirrels. But despite all the progress Gale and I make, I feel further and further away from Peeta. What if today he went to the old rusted car? Or what if he got hurt somewhere nearby? I hate not knowing where he is. I hate not being with him. I hate this world we live in.

It seems the further down we move, the more biters we encounter, one staggering body becomes two, then three more. By the time we can see the lake from the top of the hill, we understand why. The whole town and even the perimeter around the lake is overrun by walkers, far more than what Gale and I can handle. We look at each other and without speaking we know we need to find shelter and fast because some of the infected have taken notice of us and are heading our way.

There’s a small barn only about one-third of a mile from us and Gale and I run there, despite the probability it might be filled with even more walkers.

We’ve managed to arrive at our new found sanctuary without arousing more suspicion and knocking down any bodies that follow us. Gale breaks the chain holding the doors closed with his knife and the doors fly open. As I suspected, the insides are infested with the dead but this is better than staying out in the open, and this is a little more of what Gale and I can handle.

Letting our arrows pierce the heads of as many biters as possible but using our knives if they get too close. It took only about twenty minutes to completely clear the insides of the barn and all without grabbing the attention of many of the biters around the lake. Before we can make home, Gale and I have to do a perimeter check just in case there are any stragglers. I’ve got the right side of the barn which is just littered with hay, dead rats, and dismembered body parts. The smell is horrendous, the walls are painted a dark rusted red, and the light shining above gives a yellow glow. I have my bow and arrow positioned to shoot at a moments noticed but it seems as if the shed is secure. That’s when I hear an all too familiar noise coming from behind a haystack and of course, what I find is one last body slumped on the corner of the barn. I wonder why it hadn’t moved since walkers will do anything to get just one taste of fresh flesh but when I see it I know why. It’s just a torso and a head, it’s legs and arms are probably strewn about in the barn. Gale must’ve heard the noise too because he’s by my side in a second but neither one of us has taken a step to shoot. It’s not as if it’s not trying its hardest to bite us because even without legs and arms the thing is withering and worming to get near us. When it unhinges its mouth, a gush of black blood flows out. The body is very decomposed so it was infected a while ago. Probably for three weeks. And as if some cosmic joke has been played on me, I’m staring at the dead eyes of my now late husband, Peeta.

I fall to my knees but no sound comes out. He’s slowly crawling closer to me and its almost as if I can see his lost arm reaching for my face to kiss me. Peeta’s only about a foot away from me before I see an arrow pierce right through his eye splattering my face with his old, cold blood. I guess that’s the closest Gale was willing to let him get to me. Then I let out the sob that has been chocking me for weeks. I slump down and lay on my side staring at the decomposed face of the only person I trusted, loved. 

He really is gone now.


End file.
